Hawks Look to Cover Big Spread at Nuggets

Coming off a 124-113 loss to an underachieving Portland Trail Blazers squad, the Atlanta Hawks will travel to the Mile High City to take on the surging Denver Nuggets, who have won back-to-back games on a pair of Nikola Jokic game-winning shots. While the Nuggets are just 1-3 against the spread at home this season, they’ve won seven of their nine games in 2019 and should prove to be a tough test for a young Hawks team playing without John Collins.

Sportsbook Odds Analysis

Books opened the Denver Nuggets as 12-point favorites at home against the 3-6 Atlanta Hawks with a total of 226.5. The Nuggets are going for their fifth straight victory on Tuesday night while the Hawks look to break a three-game skid. The underdog Hawks beat Denver 106-99 in their last matchup nearly a year ago. Forward John Collins, currently out on suspension, poured in a career-high 30 points in that home victory.

Atlanta News & Notes

The Hawks, currently the 11th seed in the Eastern Conference, are coming off losses to the lowly Bulls, Kings and Trail Blazers. They are also without power forward John Collins for the next 23 games after the talented young big man was dealt a 25-game suspension for a failed drug test. His replacement in the lineup, former second overall pick Jabari Parker, has averaged 26 points and 9.5 rebounds over the last two games.

Trae Young is coming off his second consecutive 30-point double-double. The stud second-year point guard is sporting scintillating numbers of 26.3 points, 8.4 assists and 4.4 total rebounds per game on 44 percent shooting from the field and 36.2 percent from deep.

The Hawks are a surprising 11-5 ATS in their last 16 games against a Western Conference opponent.

Denver News & Notes

After a humbling 122-107 drubbing at the hands of the previously winless New Orleans Pelicans back on October 31, the Nuggets have rattled off four straight wins and sit in second place in the Western Conference. Their last two wins came courtesy of highly contested Nikola Jokic game-Sportsbooks.

Jokic is one of the league’s most versatile players and you can easily make the case he’s the best true center in the NBA right now. His numbers, while not eye-popping, are solid across the board — he’s averaging 16.7 points, 9.3 total rebounds and six assists on 44.7 percent shooting.

Denver has beaten the Hawks outright in nine of their last 12 games at Pepsi Center and looks to continue that trend on Tuesday night.

Betting Pick: Hawks +12

While we like the Nuggets straight up, they haven’t played particularly well against the spread, going just 3-5-1 ATS this year. They’re also coming off back-to-back close victories in the waning seconds of the game. While the Hawks have not fared much better (just 4-5 ATS on the season), they should be able to cover the 12 points.